Good morning, church. Wonderful to see all of you here today. And you are here while we begin, or we are continuing through our series in the book of Malachi.

Today we're in Malachi chapter 3, and we're going to talk about generosity that pleases God, which is another way of saying financial giving. to the Lord's work. That's what we're talking about. And as the text, we'll look at this in a moment, not giving to the Lord's work, Malachi says that's robbing God.

So, it's pretty strong language. If you don't know the Bible very well, the Bible has a lot to say about money, about how we use it, how we view it investing it spending it, giving it away, those sorts of things. But on the whole of money is a tool, right? Money is, it's a means through which we conduct transactions.

So, money is a tool and it's a means of acquiring the things that we need. And so, there's a temptation depending on how much or how little money you have. So too little money can tempt people to believe that more money will solve all of their problems. And if you know anybody that's rich, they will tell you that's not true.

Having more money does not solve all of your problems. But if you have too much money, then that can tempt people to believe that they are self-sufficient and that they don't need God because they can purchase some comforts that can create the illusion that everything is great. So, since money is a tool we use to purchase things, anything and everything that that we might need, then money can take on godlike qualities.

And that's why it's a temptation. Because it's a temptation to see our power to purchase things, or our lack of power to purchase things, as a temptation. Some sort of spiritual equivalent. And it has this God like power. So, we, as people gain more money, they become more self-sufficient. And so however much money a person has, it is a unique temptation.

And that's what that, that is a general truth about money. And so, the Bible has a particular interest in how we use money, how we give money for the Lord's work. And that's our focus for today is how we give money and what a theology of that and what the text says about it. So, I want to handle this a little bit differently this morning.

I want to do two halves, sermon and two halves. The first half of the sermon will be on Malachi, the text of Malachi. And then the second half of the sermon will be an application of what Malachi teaches in a New Testament context. Cause whenever you talk about money and giving, a lot of people wonder, it's the Old Testament required a tithe.

How do we obey that as New Testament Christians? Is there any changes? Is it the same? We're going to answer those questions today. So, two halves of the sermon, there's a housekeeping thing I want to address before we even get to that. You may have noticed it's very tight in here and we've noticed, the staff have noticed and praise the Lord.

That's a great thing. And we know that, as a church grows and gets more full, that there's a limit to which people will tolerate squeezing into a tight space. So aware of that and we want to address it. Our desire is to stay into one service. So, I'm not going to tell you a plan. I'm telling you; we're developing a plan and we'll be able to talk about it hopefully in the next couple of weeks, but we're aware of it.

We want to make a couple of small tweaks that should enable us to all stay in one service together. And, but also accommodate some of the growth. So, we'll let you know as that, in the next few weeks about that, and that is related to the other housekeeping item that I wanted to mention to you.

We have been talking about relocating this church to northern Kentucky. And that means that's not going to be free, right? So, we, God has given us free buildings before we're in one, but that's not an expectation that will always happen. And so, we're hoping to relocate the church in northern Kentucky.

Been praying about it. Our members have been informed and we're looking at that and. That means, no matter what we do, there, whatever avenue we pursue, and there's not a specific plan in place, we're looking at a number of different options. But that means that we'll need to raise money to do it.

So, most likely, over the next few weeks, we'll need to start some kind of a capital campaign. Fundraising effort within this church. But what I want to make clear, is that's not what we're doing today. So, today's sermon Is being preached because this happens to be the text in Malachi that we're on. And it does happen to coincide with the fact that in the very near future, we will initiate some kind of fundraising camp campaign, but I want you to hear what I say today, not through a lens of there's some ulterior motive or subtle manipulation.

Preachers can guilt trip sometimes and that's not what we're doing. That's not what I'm doing. It's not my heart. I want to talk about the text. I want to talk about an application of the text that is generally true for our Christian life. And then when the time comes to. to try to squeeze you for money in a fundraising campaign, I will tell you that's what I'm doing.

I'll say, folks, I'm trying to squeeze you for money now. I warned you, so here we go. There's no subtle manipulation or ulterior motive. Okay? I just want to; I want you to be able to receive this message with that sort of freedom in your mind. With that said, let's dig in. Matthew, or Matthew, Malachi, chapter three, Malachi chapter three and we'll nudge our way through this a couple of verses at a time.

We're starting in verse six, Malachi chapter three, verse six. God's word says, For I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore, you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers, you have turned aside from my statutes. Turned aside. And have not kept them. God doesn't change. And because God doesn't change, you're not consumed.

Even though, from a long time ago, there's sin in the midst of God's people. God's people are not perfect, right? God's people have sin, and so God says, I've not changed, so I'm not going to burn you up. I'm not going to consume you, even though you've given me good reason to do from the days of your fathers you've turned aside from my statutes, and you've not kept them.

So, God is emphasizing at the beginning of this that he is immutable. That's the theology word. God does not change. He is immutable. He's saying this in the context of Israel's neighbors. So, the people around Israel that would have been familiar with or the people of God at Israel, their neighbors, Israel knew what they were like, and they worshipped Pagan gods that were very fickle.

If you're familiar with some of the mythology and the, the pagan religions of ancient Near East, they were, they had this pantheon of gods that were very fickle. They didn't like humans. And they were, they would change their mind. They were deified, I don't know, human beings that were sinful.

They're just like, they're just like regular people. So, if you imagine the avengers movies, it's yeah, they're regular people that, they get annoyed with each other and they fight and they're selfish and they've got their own agendas and they have superpowers, that's the way that pagan gods were.

And in fact, the avengers movies is based on a lot of pagan mythology anyway. So that's what they were like. And so, God says, hey guys, I am not like that. I am not like these other pagan gods that you might be familiar with, Thor or who else they might know. I'm not like them. I, the Lord, do not change.

I don't change my mind. I am not fickle. I hear a minute one thing and then the next minute some other thing. So, these other gods, they change their minds, moody, irritable. It's like you can read some of the literature and it's it would talk about in their ancient literature how, human beings would get on their nerves.

It's man, these people are so noisy. They're obnoxious. What are we going to do with them? And they'll craft these plans to deal with humans that got on their nerves. God isn't like that. So, we worship the true God who actually exists. The one who is actually is there. God's people worship the one true God who is the maker of heaven and earth.

He is the sovereign king, he is the Lord of all Lord of all, and he has bound himself to a people in covenant. That's a promise. God's bound himself to them as a covenant, it's a formal oath and a formal covenant, and he has sworn, I am not turning my back on you, I am committed to you, I'm not breaking my covenant with you, even though you have been unfaithful.

So, God has, he has yoked himself to these people. It's a marriage relationship. It's yeah, even though you're imperfect, I am, I'm not going to abandon you because I am committed to you. So, Israel, God's people, they've broken covenant. They've been unfaithful. God has repeatedly endured it.

And so, he has disciplined them and he, the discipline came in various forms, but one in view here is that it came in the form of drought. So, there's no rain, which means crops won't grow, which means it's harder to come up with food. And over time that can wipe out a people. So, there's a drought and they're struggling, but God said, I don't change.

I've made a covenant. I'm not abandoning you. I'm keeping my covenant with you. Even though you're disciplined right now by having to suffer through a drought, I've not abandoned you. Amen. God is gracious to them. God tells them, and we'll see this in a moment. And I can go ahead and look at it.

Verse seven here, return to me and I will return to you. That's a call to repent. And whenever you see a call to repent in the Bible, there's all, that's always a sign of grace. God tells you to repent because he wants to show you forgiveness and so that he can deal with you differently. And so, any appeal that you see in the Bible to repent or some call to repent it presumes an offer of grace.

God is being gracious and saying, repent because I want to bless you. I want to change my disposition towards you.

So, God's discipline even the drought and the suffering that they were enduring was a sign of covenant love and commitment to them. Now, if you've been with us through this series of various weeks that we've done, you've seen different forms that discipline has taken. In this particular in this particular text, the form of discipline that's at, that at issue here is God, is this drought and the suffering that is going on.

And now God is going to address what the issue is. And how to correct it. So now let's move on to the next verse. This is, we're still in middle of verse seven here. God says, return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, how shall we return? Will man rob God? This is God speaking again.

Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you and your tithes and contributions? You are cursed with a curse for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Let's stop there. Curious. Take a little poll here. How many of you have ever been through, before, before here, have heard a sermon series preached on the book of Malachi?

Anyone? Okay, a couple of you. Another question. How many of you have heard a sermon on this text before? Okay. Many more of you. For most people, the only verse they know in the book of Malachi is this one. And the reason why they know it is they got preachers that's trying to raise money. And man, it's powerful rhetoric to tell them, hey, if you don't give money, you're robbing God.

How dare you? It's a powerful tool in the hands of a manipulative preacher to try to squeeze people. And so that's a problem. And the worst offenders of this are probably the ones that you're familiar with, or at least you're you know them by reputation. There are these globetrotting health and wealth, prosperity, gospel preachers that fleece the people that rip people off that are God's people by manipulating them and guilt tripping them into thinking that if only they gave more money, God would give them the miracle they're so desperate to receive.

That happens. You know them, Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland. There's so many of them. But it's they've got like their private jets. And they will brag about it. I've seen YouTube clips of these guys that are bragging about, it's a guy is standing in front of his private jet.

And he says, this isn't enough. My ministry is expanding. I need another private jet. And they use verses like this. to tell people if you don't give, you're robbing God. And so, it is terrible. And it's really, they target poor people. And a lot of times it's like where the prosperity gospel, this idea is growing is in Africa in poor nations with poor people that are so desperate.

And then a preacher comes along and says, the reason why you're poor and desperate is because of stuff like this. If only you would let go of what little, tiny bit of money that you have, then God is going to just, open up the storehouses of heaven and pour out blessings on you and it'll be fine.

It's your fault, you need to give what little bit you have to me and pay for my private jet and then you'll be fine. And so, it, it manipulates people who are desperate. And so, this text is very easily abused. Now, in a minute, we're going to talk about tithing, about whether or not it's a requirement for Christians, but in the context of Malachi, context here in the Old Testament, not tithing was considered thievery.

So, in this context in Malachi, he said, yes, you're robbing God by withholding a tithe 10%. I'll explain that in a moment and how that is relevant for us in the New Testament. Let's keep going. Verse 10. So here is how you repent. This is how God calls them to repent. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that, here's the purpose, there may be food in my house.

Now this, honestly, this next verse here is stunning. And as I read this, I was just like, I can't think maybe you can think of some others, but to my mind, I cannot think of another verse in the Bible that invites us to put God to the test. But it says here, and thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open up or open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there's no more need, I will rebuke the devourer for you, meaning like pestilence or, some, something that was devouring their crops.

God says, I will rebuke the devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil and your vine. And your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts, then all the nations, all the pagan nations around you, all the nations will call you blessed for you will be a land of delight.

Says the Lord of hosts. We're not going to go read from the book of Deuteronomy But if you were to go look at the book of Deuteronomy, you will see there are blessings and curses promised to God's people as an obligation a covenant obligation if God's people obey him in the ways that he Stipulated there will be a material blessing in the land that he gave them And if they did not obey him, then there would be curses that they would experience and they're all spelled out.

What he is referring to here is if you go back and obey the covenant of Deuteronomy, which is still in effect. At this time, God will keep his word that he promised you in the book of Deuteronomy. If you repent and go back to the way that God called you to behave, then God will bless you and he will keep his word.

And you will be a testimony to the nations of God's generosity and greatness to you. So, it's a simple call to repentance. And he says, put me to the test. See if I won't keep my word. Put me to the test, see if I won't do it. And so, God promised to restore the blessings to them if they repented and the, in this particular instance, that meant bringing the full tithe into the storehouse, meant to bring it into the temple sanctuary where God commanded them to bring it.

And if they did, he would open up the heavens for them. He would pour down blessings on them until there's no more need. And then God would protect what he had given them from pestilence and different things that might threaten their produce. And God's blessings would be so rich and abundant that it would bear witness to the world.

The nations around would look at him and be like, man, what a great God they serve. Look how well this God takes care of this people because of how blessed they are. He's a great God, a great covenant keeping God. Okay, so that's the first half of the sermon. That's what the text meant in that time to God's people in the days of Malachi.

Now I want us to see how does this apply now. How does this apply in a New Testament time in light of what Christ has accomplished and because there are some changes. And I want us to turn to another text to really unpack this. We're going to look at a bunch of. of scriptures. But I think a key one I'd like to anchor in is 2 Corinthians 9.

So, if you have a Bible, turn there to 2 Corinthians 9 verse 6 and to have four application points that I want to make about money and giving in New Testament times for application points. But let's read this text in 2 Corinthians 9 verses 6 through 12. So, we're reading from the New Testament.

After Jesus Christ and Paul, the apostle is giving instruction to the church about how they deal with money and giving in particular, because he's, he is raising money in this part of the letter. Starting in verse six. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. So, there's a sowing and reaping principle here.

And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you. There's grace. God is able to make all grace abound to you so that having all sufficiency in all things, at all times, you may abound in every good work.

As it is written, he has distributed freely. Is given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. First point, God promises to meet all of our needs. Do you believe that? It should be pretty standard, straightforward Christian theology. God promises to meet all of our needs.

We see this in Philippians 4:19, the apostle Paul writing from prison. While talking about how hard it is being locked up, He says, and my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus. So, God, God's going to supply all of your needs. Maybe not all of your greeds, but God will supply all of your needs.

And so that is a promise. God owns everything. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. God is never low on inventory. God never runs out of anything because he owns it all. He has it all. He controls it all because he created it all. God is able to take care of his people. He is able to supply our needs.

And so that's a promise. He promises to take care of our needs as a covenant obligation to his people. His covenant promises are still in effect to take care of us. We're not in the land of Israel in the Old Testament, but the force of God's promise is not reduced to take care of his people. So, we need to hear and believe this now.

I don't deny that Christians can experience hard times Financially we can experience hard times, but the emphasis of scripture is that God's going to take care of you And so we in the hard times that's what we need to remember is that God is not abandoning me God is taking care of me because he promised that he will do so Some Christians can do something.

So here, and I think this is probably a little bit, this is prevalent in our tribe. So, we hate the prosperity gospel. I hate it. I despise it. It is wicked and evil and perverse. And because I hate it, then we can tend to overreact and adopt the poverty gospel. Which is, God doesn't want to give me anything.

God's not going to take care of me and my lot in life is to suffer and to be miserable because that's how I'm sanctified. Now if you suffer and are miserable, God will make use of that. God will sanctify you and make you more like Christ through that. But that does not mean that you are consigned to a perpetual state of poverty.

So, there is no there's no spiritual merit that you receive by forcing yourself into poverty. You don't get kudos or brownie points by look, God, look how poor I am. I'm not going to try to make any money at all. There's the poverty gospel is also an error. It's a different kind of error, but it is still an error.

Like we need stuff, we need provision, we need food. We want to plan for our future. It's not wrong or bad to want those things and to say, I need those things. I want to prepare for my kids. I want a decent house. I want to have transportation. I want to, give my kids a good education and prepare for my future.

Those are not bad things. So yes, we hate the prosperity gospel, but we should not overreact into the poverty gospel and just deny. In a sense that God's going to take care of us. Because God loves you. Child of God, He loves you. He's a good father. He wants to give you good gifts. He wants to take care of you.

And I say this because I'm familiar with it. Because I've done it. This is I can be tempted that way. I won't, I can tell you a story sometime. But I won't do it now. But I, this is a temptation that I can fall into. It's like I just, I can get this thinking in my head. It's I'm supposed to be miserable.

Because that's more holy. That's stupid. That's just dumb. I shouldn't think that way, but it's just my own little quirk and I'm God's working it out in my life. But I think that is a, that is something that is certainly we have an over representation of that thinking in our tribe, I think, Reformed Theology tribe.

Here's another text to reinforce this idea. Psalm 37 verse 25, I have been young and now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

This is one of many texts that should give you great encouragement and comfort that God loves you, He's looking out for you, He wants to provide for you, and it's not wrong to expect that, to ask for that, and you shouldn't feel guilty for receiving that. God delights to bless His people. Okay, that's number one.

Second application point, the standard of giving changes from the Old Testament to the New Testament. And I'll explain this, and it'll take me a couple minutes to unpack it, but the standard of giving changes from the Old Testament to the New Testament. To put it another way, the New Testament has no minimum giving requirement.

Now before you get excited and stop tithing, let me tell you more what that means. But there's no minimum requirement. requirement, no minimum percentage. So, whenever Christians talk about money, that, that is the question that we often talk about. Does God require a tithe of New Testament Christians?

Maybe another way to answer it is if a Christian is only giving 5 percent of their income, are they in sin or are they robbing God? And if 10 percent is not required in the New Testament, then. What is required? How should we even think about giving? How should we approach it? What is the standard? So, let's talk about how the standard changes from Old Testament to New Testament.

The Old Testament times, Old Testament Israel was a different economic environment than what we live in. And it was a different economic environment because there was a very specific context. It was a nation that had religious systems in place that God instituted himself. And we have to account for that change.

So Old Testament tithing accomplished a specific economic purpose within that particular context. And what that purpose was is to provide for the priests, most specifically to provide for the priests, those who ministered. You didn't know this, 12 tribes in Israel, you know that right? One tribe did not get a land allotment, and all the others did.

Do you know which one didn't? Levi, you guys are smart. The tribe of Levi did not get land, which means they could not sow in the fields and reap a harvest. They had to work in the temple and to attend to the religious needs of the people, spiritual needs. Then how could they eat if their focus is on providing a religious service within a particular context?

How could they eat now and provide for their families? God required all the other tribes to bring 10 percent of their income of their first fruits into the storehouse. And that was what they did. They had religious services that they would perform, but they would also eat it. So, if you were sacrificing an animal, there would also, it's as part of the sacrifice, the priest would consume the meat and there were grain offerings and there were wine, like from the vine and that sort of thing, all these different offerings and the priest would eat it.

So that's how they took care of themselves. And you can see roughly how the numbers work. You have 11 people each giving 10 percent and then that would account for, so if all tribes are exactly the same size, which they weren't, here's some rough math, 11 twelfths is about eight, 8. 3%, something like that. So, you round it up to 10, that leaves you a little cushion. And now you have 10 percent to provide for this 12th tribe that didn't have its own land allotment. That was a. Meeting a very specific need. So now that Christ has come, we don't have a priest class. You're a priesthood of believers, like to collectively, we are a priesthood, so we all minister.

We're all, we all spiritually are ministers to one another. And then we have elders who are, the, we, the elders do the actual work of attending to and providing oversight and leadership for God's people. So, it shifts from priests to elders in the New Testament time. There's still a class of people that derive some monetary benefit from the people that they are serving, but it is not exactly the same as it was in Old Testament times.

Cause I own some land, so it's not it's not like there's, there are prohibitions. But it does change and shift and so we have to the thinking mindset changes in the New Testament. So the Old Testament priesthood is fulfilled. The New Testament Church is instituted which is overseen by elders and so now the New Testament people of God don't operate by tribes rather they operate by churches and churches pay for their own ministers.

So that's the shift. It's not by tribes and priests in that tribe. It's now churches that provide for their ministers. So, in the New Testament, the tribal ratio of 11 to 1 isn't necessary, isn't a necessary as a requirement because the church itself can determine its own needs. Let me read to you from 1 Corinthians, so same audience, different letter, same, so this is Paul to 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 14, in the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

Now he's going to talk about the fact that he personally is, doesn't always take advantage of that. But he said, that's the command. The command is those who proclaim the gospel, meaning your elders and pastoral staff, the They should get their living from that same ministry. But I've made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision.

Hey guys, I'm not manipulating you. I'm not trying to extract something from you because I'm enriching myself, which was a very common practice in Paul's day. Paul's saying, I'm talking about a principle that you can apply, and God preserved it in his word for our benefit. You with me? I've made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision.

I'd rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. What he's talking about there is the fact that he was called by God to be a minister of the gospel, not as a form of employment, but as a direct calling, handpicked by Jesus Christ, knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus, and he's going to preach the gospel.

He's woe to me if I don't obey God in his calling. So, I'm not talking about me getting a paycheck, fellas. I'm talking about a principle. All right, verse 17. For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with the stewardship. What then is my reward?

That in my preaching, I may present the gospel free of charge, so as to not make full use of my right in the gospel. There's a lot going on there and how he's, and what, and the argument that's led him to this point. But the thing I want to notice here, that in my preaching, I may present the gospel free of charge.

And that's important. He's not saying, hey, this is I'm like Google. I'm going to provide a free service and you don't really know how we're getting paid for it. Or just some secret thing. And really, you are the product being sold because we're selling your private information. He's not saying this is a free thing that's not really free.

He says, no, this truly is free. And because it's the gospel, it must be free because the gospel itself is free. So, the freeness here is what he's emphasizing.

New Testament giving meets similar needs to Old Testament tithing. But the percentage is no longer a strict requirement. So, what are the needs then? The needs are similar in that it pays for the ministers of the gospel. So Old Testament priests, in the New Testament, elders, pastors, local ministries.

So, there are, this may not, I'm not presenting this as an exhaustive list, but in my mind there are three things that stand out. New Testament needs or contributions in the church should go to three things. One is to support the ministers of the gospel, elders, pastors, and local ministries. Two, to support Christians who are in need.

Poverty ministry, mercy ministry, people that have a financial hardship, but Christians that are in financial hardship. And three, missions, to expand the gospel where he's not named. Those are the three priorities that stand out to me that should be emphasized for New Testament Christian giving.

Thank you, Doug. Amen to you too, brother. So put differently, the New Testament realities. Free us to focus on not so much how much we give, but more foundationally how we give. So, it's not so much as Hey guys, 10%, bring your W2s and your tax records. And we're going to verify this, at the end of the year, it's Hey, we're, I want to, we trust you.

To not give under compulsion, to not give as an exaction, you're not being coerced or forced or manipulated or guilted, but rather you're being appealed to in a different way because the gospel is free because what Jesus gave us is free and because he's going to provide for us no matter what, then we now have freedom to give in a different way.

It's how you give; not so much how much you give. So, let's talk about that. So that's the second principle. First one, God's gonna take care of your needs, provide for you. Second one, the standard changes Old Testament to New Testament. Third principle, there are three words that describe the New Testament standard of giving.

So, I got three sub points here, three words, freely, cheerfully, sacrificially. Those are three words. We'll go through these one at a time. First one, freely. God doesn't owe you a thing. You know that? We've sinned against him. We've been rebellious. We've been enemies of God. We've been outside and estranged from him at one time.

That was the reality of all of us at one point before we know Christ. But he saved us, and he gave us the free gift of the gospel by his blood shed on the cross. Jesus Christ saved us, not by works, but by grace. So, it's a free thing. He gave to us freely. We don't deserve it. So, it's a free thing, and everything that we have is a gift that is of God's abundant grace.

Scripture. 9, For by grace you have been saved. There's a good definition of grace. I don't know if it's necessarily, Greek literature standard, but I think it's good. Unmerited favor. It is God's favor upon you that you didn't deserve. So that's grace. So, by grace, unmerited favor, you've been saved through faith.

This is not your own doing. You had nothing to do with it. You didn't obey your way into the kingdom. You didn't think your way into the kingdom. You didn't pray your way into the kingdom. You received it by simply believing it. Amen. That is the grace of the gospel. So therefore, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, because if you prayed it, if you gave money into the kingdom, then you have a grounds for boasting, but he wants to eliminate any grounds for boasting.

It is nothing that you did. You've got nothing to brag about. Nothing is impressive about you. There's nothing that is all that spectacular about you where God handpicked you and said, boy, I got to have that one. That one's a superstar. That one's super smart. Look how impressive they are. No, God saved you because he wanted to show off about how merciful he is.

And you happen to be the very fortunate recipient of that blessing. And that's it. So, you've been saved by grace. It's free. It's a gift of God. And faith is merely, I receive that. Faith is not a work you perform. Faith is simply, okay, yes, I want it. It's just opening, it's like receiving that by God's grace.

So, whatever we give then, it's a heartfelt response to the freeness of the gospel itself. It's a response to the generosity of God because God gave first. Matthew 10 verse 8 I like the way New American Standard said this. I know some of you are really into that and you'll like this. Freely you received, freely give.

That's punchy, right? And that's Jesus words. So, friends, freely you received. You didn't buy it, nothing you did. It was conditioned God or obligated God to give it to you freely. You received therefore give just as freely as you received. Here's another one. Second Corinthians nine seven already read it, but I want to highlight this one here.

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart. So, it's a, it's something that is determined within God. God wants to produce something in you. That overflows in financial generosity. He doesn't need your money.

I want to say this church doesn't need your money, but I don't know if I'm ready to say that. But ha. God does not need your money. God is, God wants to produce a certain type of person. He wants to curate a certain attitude within you that then leads to giving. But it's not it's not like God's Man, I don't know how I'm going to pay the bills this month.

And if that dude would just cough up a little more than I could get it done. I could rule the, go back to ruling the world like I used to, no, it's like God does it all. He's, he controls it all. So, he's, it is something that he is producing in you. Here's that's, that is the attitude that he's bringing about.

Oh, here we go. Let me finish going. Each one must give as he's decided in his heart, not reluctantly. If you approach giving to ministry the way you approach paying your cell phone bill or your mortgage, its man, gosh, it keeps going up. And it's just this kind of sick attitude. It's another bill.

It's another duty, a chore. Then that's not what he's getting at. So, the how you give matters. In the New Testament time, the Old Testament time, 10 percent if you don't do it, you're robbing God. New Testament time, pay attention to what's going on in your heart and let God produce this attitude within you.

Not reluctantly, not under compulsion. Another translation says it's not an exaction. Nobody's like at gunpoint forcing you to give your money to ministry. God doesn't want it that way. God loves a cheerful giver. So that's the New Testament. New Testament standard, how you give reflects how much you value what you've received.

It's an indicator. It's an indicator of your heart. And so, our, the standard is to respond with the same kind of generosity that Christ demonstrated at the cross. That's the first word, freely. Second word is cheerfully. So, giving to gospel ministry is a privilege of advancing the gospel of ministering to the needs of the saints.

Christian giving helps advance the gift of the gospel. So, the Christian attitude is I get to, not I have to. There, there is a change. God loves a cheerful giver. We just read that. And so, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches cheerful giving is a self-reinforcing attitude and it's counterintuitive.

Your heart follows your money. So, get this. Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Now, what we normally think is where's my heart and I want to put my money where my heart is. And Jesus flips that around. He says, no, where your treasure is, your heart follows the money.

Which kind of makes sense if you think about it. If you're giving your money to something, then your heart is going to be more connected to that thing because of what money represents to us. Where your treasure is, your heart is going to follow it. And that's the opposite of what we normally think. So, Jesus is indicating here that your money leads your heart, and your heart follows wherever the money is put.

If so, it's one of these wonderful spiritual ironies that giving freely to ministry can create a certain posture in your heart. So even if you don't have the right attitude at first, the act of giving can change your heart attitude. So, it's let's say you begin giving reluctantly, you give it under compulsion, you're not very cheerful about it.

Whenever you start developing that habit, your heart starts to come in line with where your money's going because your heart follows your treasure. You see that? Cheerfully. Third word, sacrificially. This means that your standard of giving should have an effect on your standard of living. Give till it hurts.

It should change the, it should make decisions for you. It's I can't do that thing I would like to do because I've made commitments to it. To, to where I should give to ministry. Christian generosity then is the currency of gospel ministry and generous giving facilitates the preaching of a generous gospel.

And so sacrificial giving only furthers those endeavors. So, what does this mean? Practically, I would say it means bring your first fruits to the Lord and not your leftovers. Firstfruits that's biblical term, and you're, they were required to not bring the leftovers, the stuff that they, that they, the afterthought sort of thing.

It's a little change in my pocket, I guess I'll stick that in the offering plate. No, it's no you bring your best to the Lord. So, I don't know. If you buy, here's a way to think through it. So, you buy the house you want and the car you want and go on the vacations you want, and you go to the restaurants that you want.

And then out of what's left over, then you think, okay, what do we got left over? To give to ministry, then you're not giving sacrificially. You're not giving with the attitude that, that God is seeking to produce in his people. So, in Malachi chapter two, we looked at this a few weeks ago.

You remember the criticism? Yeah. He said, the priest had this little collusion with the people. It's bring in your busted up sheep and the sick goat or whatever. It's bring in your sick animals. And the priest's Hey, don't worry about it. God will overlook that.

And so, the people were like, hey, I get to keep my best animals for myself. And the priest's Hey, I get to make friends by telling people to keep the best for yourself. And that was, there was like some collusion going on there. And God rebuked them very strongly for that. Here's another example very clear in 2 Samuel 24, 24, where David had, he had sinned greatly.

He had this census that he had enacted that was an act of pride. And so, God corrected him. And so, he was going to buy a threshing floor to perform a sacrifice from this guy in Arjuna Arana. And so, whenever he went to Orana and said, hey, I want to buy this thing. Orana's no. You're the king.

Let me give this thing to you. take it. I don't, I'm not trying to rip you off or anything, O king. But David refused because he had received something for free. What he had received for free was the grace of God, that God was, God's hand was merciful on him even though he had deeply offended God for a sin.

So, David received a gift and here's what he said. He said, I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing. And so, he's the king. He's got a lot of money, so it's hard to pay enough for something for it to really hurt, to hit him where it hurt. But he did. I'm not going to just, I'm not going to just take this thing, this free gift of God and for it to not obligate me in some way as a response.

Let me read you a quote. This is from C. S. Lewis. This C. S. Lewis always has a beautiful way of saying things, and he, C. S., this is C. S. Lewis at his, in a very practical way of talking about giving, and he said, I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.

In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, et cetera, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us. I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.

It's good practical wisdom. So, I could summarize by saying, give a lot with a happy heart until it hurts. John Bunyan said it this way, there was a man, some thought him mad, the more he gave, the more he had. That's a good little poem there, but it's memorable and it gives you a good idea of the heart. very much.

Take care. As you give, there is a blessing. It's like we were enriched by the act of sending our money off into other places. And when we do this, God is pleased. It delights his heart. All right. Number four, and I'll try to move through this quickly here. Number four, your first fruits should go to the local church.

Support for parachurch ministries should be a lower priority. I'll explain this. Why is this? Why would I say that the first fruits, the lion's share of your giving should prioritize your local church? For most of you, that's uncontroversial, but some of you, you might, you may not like that at first.

I'll tell you the reason why. It's the same reason why you meet your own needs at home before you meet other needs somewhere else. You don't starve your own children in order to feed a hungry child somewhere across town. You take care of things at home and then as things are well managed at home, then you can expand the blessing to the nations as it were, or to the neighborhood or to wherever else that could be in your sphere.

But you take care of things at home first and then out of the overflow from there it can expand to others. So, you don't ignore your own electric bill and get your own electric shut off in order to pay for somebody else's electric bill because their electric might get shut off. And there's like the parable of the lamps there's parables I could read to you or share with you, but I think that the scriptural principle would be easy to demonstrate, but I don't want to take the time to get into it.

But your local church then is your spiritual home, right? This is the community that is, that nourishes your faith. And so, this is the community and the elders that oversee you, shepherd you, that love you, pray for you, that preach the word that facilitate ministries, that all of the work that is done here, this is your spiritual home, and so the local church then as it grows strong and healthy, the overflow then could be a blessing to others, right?

This is 1 Corinthians, again, verses 9, or chapter 9, verses 9 through 11. For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake because the plowman should plow in hope, and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. So, if you got a, if you got an ox that's, they're pulling a plow for you, and there's like grain on the ground or something, and the oxen kind of leans down and starts to munch on something, there was a law in the Old Testament that says don't muzzle that ox.

Because the oxen is working for you, so should he not be able to be fed from the very crop that he is working to produce? Simple principle. And Paul says, yeah, there's much broader application than just for an ox. God cares about ministers of the gospel. And Paul says that Old Testament text applies to us now in the way that we do church ministry.

Those are three priorities. Local church, I would say, is top priority. Charity to local Christians in need, second priority, and missions, third priority. All three are priorities, but those are the three. So let me say a quick word about parachurch organizations. It's easy to assume that you hear of some foreign mission organization and to assume, oh man, that's like Paul and Silas out there faithfully.

Preaching the gospel and taking it to the far reaches of the earth amongst unreached people groups and man. What a glorious beautiful work They're doing Suffering for the Lord and we just have these romanticized picture of what they're doing and that's what the fundraising videos will tell you They certainly want you to think that and sometimes that's true I'm not discounting that it does happen, but the reality on the ground can be a lot more complicated Just because they advertise a certain kind of ministry, you're not there to verify it.

All you have is a picture and a newsletter or a video that, that could be made to present ministry in a certain way.

Let me just tell you, practically, I've been around the block a time or two. And I've seen how a lot of para church organizations work. And I think they're pretty similar to government programs. A lot of times, para church ministries operate like bloated, pragmatic, unaccounted, and liberal organizations.

Just like government does. Because there's this supply of money coming in. And there, there's a, not a lot of accountability sometimes. And a lot of times what is being taught may not be things that you would want to fund.

So, a lot of parachurch organizations, they perfect the art of speaking like conservatives while advancing liberal priorities. And I just, the longer I've been in ministry, I'm not as impressed with a lot of them. There are good ministries out there, don't hear me wrong. There are good ministries out there, but they're not, you can't just assume any old ministry that says, hey, we're doing famine relief, we're doing gospel evangelism, we're doing whatever.

That doesn't make it a lot of times the overhead is astronomical, like 70, 80 percent of the money you give goes to overhead and a small fraction actually goes to meet the need that they claim that they're raising money for. That's not very effective or efficient ministry, right? The money you give to Christ the King Church, for those of you who do, I just want to let you know that the money that you give here goes to fund all the three priorities that I mentioned.

It funds local church ministries, so it pays the salaries of our staff and keeps the lights on here and things that we do. It also goes to Christians in need. So, we have benevolence fund and that, that goes to people often within our church body that are in a financial crisis, but sometimes outside of our church body.

But if there's a, there are people that are in some severe need and we have an opportunity to address it, then we have money set aside to do that part of our budget, which you vote on and foreign missions. And when it comes to foreign missions. It is, it's not just whoever comes along and happens to ask.

We can't verify everything, but we do try to do some diligence to verify that these ministries are doing good, faithful ministry. We know where the money's going and that the gospel, they're preaching is a gospel that we can endorse and not feel like it's a, to not feel like really uncomfortable with.

And we don't send money to mission organizations unless we're fairly confident that they're doing faithful work.

If you have not given yet, we have a website that you can, it'll tell you how to do it. So, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna beat that drum. Alright, we'll finish here. If you've been at Christ the King for a while, you know that this is not something that we really hammer hard. Some of that is just my own reluctance, honestly, because I don't want to be caricature that I see that really turns my stomach.

And yet at the same time, I've been convicted, and others have challenged me on it, that it, it would be depriving God's people of an opportunity to grow and trust God to not preach about giving faithfully. So, I want to do it, but I want, that's why I started the way I did. And if you're new here, the first time here, it's not man, these people are really beating the drum on money.

It's no, this is this is not something that comes up a lot, but we're doing it because of your discipleship, because we want to grow and because it's addressed in the text. Giving is a matter of obedience, it's a spiritual discipline, it's good for your soul. And it is a proper response to the generosity of God who saved us by his free grace in Christ.

Therefore, freely you have received, freely give. Amen? Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for speaking to us in your word about very practical things that and you give us the tools in your word and thank you for just the resources that I've been able to consult that can, help me to understand the difference between even Old Testament New Testament giving.

Thank you Lord for speaking to us giving us instruction and For the free grace that is ours through Christ and what may we never get over that and May we continue to marvel and be dumbfounded at the spectacular Generosity that you have poured out and demonstrated for us at the cross And Lord, I pray anybody who is here that has not yet received that gift, Lord, I pray that they will hear the testimony that we have borne today to that gospel, to that good news, and that they will receive that gift and will respond with a heart full of joy and gratitude at what they've received.

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for joyfully going to the cross for the sake of your people and for the sake of pleasing your father. Thank you. Meet us now as we come to the table with your spirit and fellowship with us. Build us up. We pray this in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.